Bitesize InsurTech: Slice Labs

Earlier this month Slice Labs announced a partnership with Munich Re Digital Partners. It plans to be the first on demand insurance platform to support the on demand economy and it has come about as a direct response to the problems that providers of on demand services (“sharers”) face when trying to buy insurance.

Slice Labs was established in October 2015 and received $3.9m of seed funding earlier this year from XL Innovate and Horizon Ventures, Li Ka-Shing’s private investment vehicle with a strong track record in tech investments including Facebook, Spotify and more pertinently Friendsurance.

The problem sharers face is not insignificant and many sharers are uninsured or under-insured:

Private policies generally exclude any commercial activity

Commercial policies tend not to reflect that most sharers partake only on a part time basis and are consequently cost prohibitive

Insurers that do provide on demand insurance to sharers tend to break it down into time periods and understanding whether one is insured is confusing and cumbersome, at best

Some sharing economy businesses offer guarantees as a proxy for insurance and others are Named insureds. Both can offer protection to sharers in the event of a claim, however the sharers have few contractual rights – they are to a large extent reliant on a benefactor, albeit one with a reputation to build & protect!

Slice Labs, whilst not yet operational appears to be addressing an acute problem in a growing space – it plans to offer insurance only as sharers need it, at a swipe, and irrelevant of time periods. It has recruited from the tech space, from the insurance sector and of course, from Google. It has funding from a smart tech investor and a smart insurance investor. It is licensed in 40+ states and it has now partnered with one of the largest, and increasingly forward thinking, reinsurers.